Nothing But Words

Drainspotting Revisited

Topic: Family and Friends, Japan 2007
Tags: Japan, Me, Musings

I finally fixed the pictures in my Drainspotting in Japan post from last year (the plugin I used before Shashin for managing my pictures doesn’t work with recent versions of WordPress, so I’ve been slowly working through my older posts to fix the pictures). Pink Tentacle has a photo collection of some of the more dazzling Japanese manhole covers, as well as pictures of what may be the most manhole infested street in the world - a quiet street in Tokyo’s Setagaya ward, with 85 manholes over a 200 meter stretch of pavement.

It looks like Prague is also a good city for drainspotting. I mention this because we’re planning a trip to Prague next summer. Maria is going to be in charge of a group of Villanova students who will be there to study for a summer semester. Maria will be there for two months with the boys, and I’ll join them for the last few weeks (so I need to save up all my vacation time between now and then).

Don’t worry though, I’ll look up from the ground every now and then to see what else the city has to offer

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Kai’s Candy Company - Going Out of Business Sale

Topic: Family and Friends
Tags: Client Projects

It was quite an adventure, starting our own candy business. But now that the Presidential campaign is over, Kai’s Candy Company will be closing its doors on December 17th. If you haven’t gotten around to ordering some Obama candies yet, now is the time. All candies are 40% - 65% off their original prices.

I’d like to especially thank all our friends who got our business off the ground this summer by being our first customers. We really appreciate your support. (See this post if you’re wondering why we’re closing the business.)

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Crummy Cell Phone Pictures, Part II: Fun on the Oreo

Topic: Kai and Eidan
Tags: Eidan, Kai

Eidan on the Awakening statue at Villanova	Eidan and Kai on the Awakening statue at Villanova
Eidan on the Awakening statue at Villanova	Kai on the Awakening statue at Villanova
Kai on the Awakening statue at Villanova	Eidan plays dead on the Awakening statue at Villanova

Last month I killed some time with the boys at Villanova for about an hour, while we waited for Maria to finish a meeting. They gravitated to the “Awakening” sculpture, known more commonly as the Oreo. We ran around on it for about 30 minutes. Then it was on to the pine trees nearby, where we tried to knock down pine cones by throwing already fallen pine cones at them.

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Crummy Cell Phone Pictures, Part I

Topic: Kai and Eidan
Tags: Eidan

Eidan at Kai’s back to school picnic

Eidan was the only miniature beach ball wielding, Mexican wrestler mask wearing toddler at Kai’s back to school picnic a couple of weeks ago. Every day for the past month or so he has insisted on wearing some kind of crazy outfit. This mask is his current favorite. He doesn’t even let us take it off for bed sometimes (we take it off after he falls asleep). He goes to bed each night with a different assortment of objects - last night it was rubber bands and a flash light. More typically it’s action figures or matchbox cars. Anything but a soft fluffy stuffed animal.

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Turning Over an Old Leaf

Topic: Family and Friends
Tags: Me, U Penn

I’ve blogged very little over the past several months, as the candy business and my web consulting work were keeping me incredibly busy. I’ve recently come to realize that, unfortunately, the candy business isn’t going to make it. It turns out there was a good reason the market for imported Japanese hand-made candy was wide open - it’s not a viable market. The production and import costs are too high, and the market niche is too small. But I did master the dense, intricate web of FDA and Custom regulations for importing food. At first I thought I’d get help from a consultant, but FDA consultants demand $800 per 15 minutes (yup, $2400/hour, but they prefer to pitch the number for 15 minutes). So I figured it all out on my own, and we got two shipments through FDA, USDA, Customs, and FAA inspections without a hitch. We’ll keep selling the political candies we have until the end of the campaign season, and then we’ll shut down the business.

The idea behind my web consulting was to keep some income flowing while we got the candy business going. It’s not something I wanted to do full time, and I’ve already wound down my consulting work, save for one project that’s almost finished.

So what’s next? I’ve actually been back full-time at the U Penn School of Medicine’s Information Services (SOMIS) for about a month now. I started here in 2004 as a web developer, and at the time I left at the end of 2007, I was a project manager. Now I’m back as a senior developer. At least one thing I’ve gained this past year is clarity on the kind of work that I find rewarding. When I left SOMIS last year, I told my co-workers that part of me felt crazy for leaving. It turns out that part of me was right, and I consider myself very lucky for having the opportunity to come back (especially given the current state of the economy). We have a good team, the clients aren’t insane, and the work is challenging but not pull-your-hair-out stressful.

And as you can see, my blog has a new design, although it still needs a little work. I intend to get back to blogging regularly, and I have a big backlog of pictures to post from the summer.

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Everything You Need to Know, in About 10 Minutes

Topic: Family and Friends
Tags: Musings

My uncle Vincent Ferraro teaches political science at Mt Holyoke College in Massachusetts. I recently came across the text of his 2006 Baccalaureate address, and it’s amazing. I can’t imagine more perfect advice for how to approach the challenges of life, all presented in a speech that probably took only about 10 minutes to deliver. Here’s a snippet, but I highly, highly recommend reading the whole thing:

…Remember that the idea of the “world” is nothing more than an artifact of our limited imaginations. Effectively helping an autistic child is more important then poorly negotiating a treaty on nuclear disarmament. Relieving the suffering of a homeless person is just as consequential as discovering a cure for cancer. Because the world is not just the mass of people living on the planet; the world is every single person on the planet. If your strengths lie in saving the one, then focus on that task. If your strength lies in the ability to mobilize the creative talents of millions, then focus on that activity. Let your personal power define the world.

My final bit of advice may sound a little strange in the context of what I’ve just been arguing, but I mean it in all sincerity. Saving the world requires that you laugh, no matter how desperate the situation may be. Losing the ability to laugh, or sing, or dance in the moment of great crisis is a signal that you’ve lost the point of why you need to save the world. We want to save our humanity, not just humanity. Laughing in the face of great crisis is the clearest sign that we have not given ourselves over to fatalism and fear.

We cannot let the world control us. It’s too big, too unpredictable, and too complex. Besides, those who have tried to control it–Napoleon, Hitler, Stalin, Mao–only made things worse.

We can, however, control our reactions to the world. Indeed, without that measure of self-control it is unlikely that we will accomplish any good at all.

So laugh because you are alive.

And laugh because the struggle is heroic and worthy.

And laugh because winning and losing is not the measure of your courage or your greatness; only your will to be who you wish to be is relevant. Who you need to be. Who you must be.

And if you remain true to yourself and the values of this place, you will not fail…

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Introducing Kai’s Candy Company

Topic: Family and Friends, WordPress and Web Programming
Tags: Client Projects, Election 2008, Japan, Me

The home page for Kai’s Candy Company, featuring Obama and McCain candies

The home page for Kai’s Candy Company, featuring Obama and McCain candies

My blog has been quiet recently, as I’ve been focused on creating and launching the site for my new business, Kai’s Candy Company. Our goal with the company is to seek out the most unusual, fun, and tasty candies from around the world, and sell them! We’re starting with Obama and McCain candies that we’ve made especially for the 2008 Presidential campaign. The candies are hand made by artisans in Japan, using traditional kumi ame (rolled candy) techniques.

We also have a Halloween candy poll that’s waiting for your vote! Your votes will help us decide which candy designs to pick for our Halloween candies.

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Memorial Day Weekend

Topic: Kai and Eidan
Tags: Eidan, Kai, Philadelphia

Eidan sprays Kai with water on the first hot day of Spring

Eidan sprays Kai with water on the first hot day of Spring

Today was the first hot day of the year, so the boys went at each other with spray bottles in the back yard. And it wasn’t long before they turned their sights on the cameraman (me).

On Sunday we took a trip to Franklin Square so the boys could enjoy some miniature golf. An unexpected sight while we were there was a freshly completed sand sculpture, celebrating Philadelphia. It was no Fukiage Beach Sand Festival, but it was fun to see, and reminded me of our time in Japan last year. Then we ended the day with dinner at Pho 75 in Chinatown. It all made for a very pleasant day.

Kai on the mini-golf course at Franklin Square Park	A sand sculpture at Franklin Square Park
Kai and Eidan getting the cameraman (me) wet

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Give Me A Race Car and an Earlobe, and There is Nothing I Cannot Do

Topic: Kai and Eidan
Tags: Eidan

Eidan’s preschool picture, April 2008 (2 years old)

Eidan’s preschool picture, April 2008 (2 years old)

Eidan got his report card for pre-school the other day. One of his teacher’s written comments was: “Eidan continues to be a joy in our classroom. His strong willed demeanor made potty training easy, but it also makes it difficult for him to be cooperative when given commands he doesn’t agree with.”

Yup, that’s our boy.

He was slow to start talking at first, but now he’s a chatterbox. We can’t always understand him, but that will come with time. My current favorite expression of his is “you scare me,” which he’ll say with a big smile anytime you show up unexpectedly.

Most kids get attached to a stuffed animal or a blanket, but not Eidan. He’s very attached to his Lightning McQueen and Chick Hicks toy cars right now (from the movie Cars - he calls them “kachow” and “chicka chicka,” since those are their catch phrases). He carries them everywhere, and even sleeps with them. He was also very attached to Maria’s earlobes for a while, rubbing them as a way of comforting himself. She finally made him stop when it got the point where he was rubbing her ears raw.

He also really enjoys going to Kai’s karate class. While Kai’s doing his class, I’m with him on the side, helping him practice his own version of karate. The teacher is kind enough to let him borrow a helmet, a small padded practice sword, and a kicking pad. He has a great time flailing his little arms and legs wildly, pretending he is a karate master.

He loves books now. He doesn’t know how to read yet, but he’ll happily flip through the pages and look at the pictures. His current routine is to go to bed with a stack of books (this is after Maria and I have already read to him) and look through them by himself until he’s ready to sleep. He’ll usually sneak out of bed at some point too, and bring some toys in bed with him. Tonight it was a toy hammer and goggles. He’s asleep now, with the goggles still on, a race car in his hand, a stack of books on one side of him, and a big toy fire engine on the other. I’ll go in soon to take most of it away, so it doesn’t all crash to the floor during the night.

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Kai Rocks Out

Topic: Kai and Eidan
Tags: Kai

Kai rocks out

Kai refused to let me make a video of him dancing. I tried my best paparazzi camera-hiding technique, but as you can see, it got me only about 10 seconds of video.

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